"Good morning Cloverpaw!" Echopaw meowed as her sister appeared at the entrance to the medicine den. The sun was higher now, bathing the camp with light. Echopaw pounced on her sister like they used to do as kits. She pinned the ginger she-cat down.
"Get off Echopaw! I'm a medicine cat apprentice now, and medicine cats don't fight." Cloverpaw explained.
"Oh." Echopaw meowed sadly, stepping off her sister's back.
"Sorry, but that is the rules. Where is Jayflight? I'm sure she would be happy to take you out for your first day of training." The larger apprentice pointed out.
"Asleep." The light silver tabby replied. She sat down with her white-tipped tail around her white paws, with her sister doing the same. The two sisters were similar in patterns of their fur, both having white bellies, white paws, and a white-tipped tail and ear, but while Cloverpaw had light ginger fur, Echopaw had very light silver fur with just lighter and barely visible tabby stripes. A voice called from the medicine den.
"Cloverpaw, I want to teach you some herbs." Gingerleaf called. Cloverpaw licked her sister's shoulder and disappeared into the den. Echopaw sighed.
"Morning, Foxpaw." Hawkpaw yawned from the apprentice's den. The read she-cat looked up, one slender black paw raised to clean. She twitched one of her black ears at the brown tom and returned to her cleaning.
"Fox! Attack!" A kit screeched from the nursery. Foxpaw looked up and gave a squeal of surprise as her fluffy, fox-like tail was attacked by Nightkit, one of Featherstorm's kits. His sisters and brother, Tinykit, Lightningkit, and Robinkit, joined him by attacking Foxpaw as well. Skykit and her brother Bramblekit watched from the nursery, eyes dancing.
"I'm not a fox! Get off of me!" Foxpaw squealed, pulling Nightkit off her tail.
"Quick! It is returning our attacks! Fight harder!" He squeaked. The kits began to swarm closer to Foxpaw's long muzzle, trying to get her to release Nightkit.
"Help us Bramblekit!" Robinkit mewled, biting one of Foxpaw's ears. Bramblekit mewed and charged, followed closely by Skykit.
"Attack the fox!" Skykit squealed as she landed squarely on the top of Foxpaw's back. Bramblekit grabbed her tail as Nightkit had done. Echopaw laughed, remembering how she had followed the game as well a few days ago, before she had been told she would be made an apprentice. Jayflight yawned and stretched in front of the warriors den, followed by some other warriors, including Nightkit and his siblings' father, Wolfstripe.
"Tinykit, Lightningkit, Robinkit, get off of Foxpaw! Where is your mother?" He growled, taking Nightkit from the relieved Foxpaw. All five kits slid off sadly.
"Asleep. We came out here to get fresh air." Robinkit admitted. She was youngest, but the oldest, who was Nightkit, was never the responsible one. Lightningkit and Robinkit always took charge with Tinykit just following along.
"So why are you outside without a queen to watch you? There wasn't even any warriors out to keep you out of trouble. What if a real fox attacked?" Wolfstripe scolded.
"There were a lot of apprentices out." Lightningkit pointed out.
"Even if our apprentices are perfectly capable of helping you if you were attacked, it still doesn't mean you can go out without permission from your mother and without a queen or warrior around!" He snapped. The kits looked at their paws. Wolfstripe herded them into the nursery with Skykit and Bramblekit trailing behind, their tails drooping and paws scuffling.
"How about I show you a few fighting moves? I know you haven't seen the territory yet, but Hawkpaw is training today and it would be good for you to start out battle training now." Jayflight suggested.
"Who cares about the territory? Fighting moves are much more fun!" Echopaw replied, prancing around her new mentor.
"Good." Jayflight meowed. Hawkpaw and Frozenrain, his mentor, were padding out the camp entrance. Jayflight followed them, and Echopaw bounded ahead to meet Hawkpaw.
"You again. Here to disturb my training like you did my sleep?" He growled Echopaw's tail ruffled up and the fur on her neck stood up.
"I didn't mean to wake you up. Foxpaw said that you were the same way when you first got your apprentice name!" She growled. He stopped in his tracks.
"If you think I care what Foxpaw says then you must be more mouse brained then I thought!" He hissed. Echopaw's tail flicked back and forth.
"And I am leader of AshClan! Every cat in this clan knows you like her." The she-cat purred, moving again behind her mentor. Hawkpaw growled.
"Why you!" He hissed, leaping for her. She dodged out of the way and leaped back on top of him. Their surprised mentors were waiting for them in the clearing they tussled into, and Echopaw could tell it was the training hollow. Hawkpaw pinned her down, growling. Echopaw kicked her sheathed paws against his belly hard, and he flew off of her. She rebounded and charged at him, but he jumped over her. She used her nose to unbalance him and kicked him with her hind legs as he went over. He landed with a thud on the other side of the clearing. He took a second to get his bearings back and she leaped at him, pinning him down. He turned on his side and she flew off. He leaped at her and pinned her down. He bit her ear and pulled. She battered his belly and did the same thing he had done to her, turned over to throw him off. He landed hard and she leaped on top of him. This time, she managed to keep him down, and both cats stayed where they were, panting.
"Good job, Echopaw. Your first time training and you beat an older and almost fully trained apprentice." Frozenrain complimented. Echopaw rose her head proudly. Hawkpaw tried to escape, but she held him down harder.
"I hate you." He whispered into her ear. She smirked in reply.
"I don't see anything else we can teach you. How about we go on a hunting patrol?" Frozenrain mewed, looking at Jayflight.
"I noticed the fresh-kill pile was low myself. It would be a good chance for Hawkpaw to show off his hunting skills, and there might just be a warrior ceremony in his near future." Jayflight meowed. As the deputy, her thoughts mattered most to Fallingstar, and was almost always put in charge of apprentice training, letting the leader know of their progress.
"How about it, Hawkpaw?" Frozenrain meowed. Hawkpaw nodded. Echopaw agreed quickly as well. Jayflight led the way.
By Moonrise the cats' jaws were full of prey. Only two rabbits were caught by Echopaw, the rest caught by the others, which was a lot more.
"Don't worry, it was your first time hunting. When you are older and more trained you will be able to catch more prey." Jayflight comforted. Echopaw nodded through her rabbits and one of Hawkpaw's mice.
"I have to admit you were faster then me with those rabbits. I have never seen a cat go that fast in my life." Frozenrain pointed out. Echopaw could tell she was exaggerating and just trying to comfort her.
Hawkpaw stared her down the whole way back. They placed their prey on the fresh-kill pile and Echopaw began to pad back to the apprentices' den. By now, most of the Clan was asleep, and she was only halfway to the den when she was stopped by Hawkpaw. Both their mentors had disappeared, so he sat down, giving her a glare for her to sit down as well.
"Why were you staring at me the way back to camp? Didn't want me to loose your precious mouse?" She growled. He didn't reply for a moment.
"No. I was thinking about our fight early. You are stronger then I thought." He meowed finally. The praise took Echopaw by surprise.
"You really think so?" She mewed, but Hawkpaw continued.
"You are really fast too. You surprise me, Echopaw. As you were a kit, I thought of you as just that, a kit in the nursery. I never looked at you and wondered what traits you would bring to the Clan. I'm sorry." He stood up and returned to the apprentices' den. Echopaw watched him go, surprise reflected in her eyes. This was the cat who had wanted to rip her to shreds just that morning. She followed him into the apprentices' den. The night before, Foxpaw had curled up next to him, but tonight Hawkpaw had sat on the other side of the den, and was already asleep. Echopaw laid down in her own nest and closed her eyes.
